The goal of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core (BBC) of the Nathan Shock Center is to provide informatics and statistical services to Shock Center faculty and graduate students for research projects on aging supported by the Center. Statistical services range from initial study design to final management and analysis of data. The BBC is located in the Departments of Biostatistics and Computer Science. The Department of Biostatistics has a long history of involvement in aging research at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). The Department has experienced faculty and programmers to assist investigators within the Shock Center, and to help provide a linkage with other foci of aging research within the URMC. With the explosion of Center, and to help provide a linkage with other foci of aging research within the URMC. With the explosion of genetic information and especially the recent development of microarray systems has come the need to link, manage and explore large amounts of data generated by individual studies as well as combined from multiple studies. The bioinformatics needs of Shock Center investigators will also be met by the BBC. Dr. Mitsunori Ogihara beings his expertise to the BBC, and provides a linkage to the intellectual resources of his department (Computer Science) as well. The BBC will develop databases for the tracking and management of individual research projects within the Shock Center, as well as a local area network linking the Research Core facilities. For projects using the Microarray Analysis Core support will be provided in the use of software specifically designed for the exploration of the resulting multivariate data sets. Methodology will be developed to further facilitate the exploratory analysis of this kind of data. Activities and resources provided by the Core include: System and Operational Management of the Shock Center computer network, supervision of data collection, entry and quality control, and development of a master database for both project tracking and management of different data files for individual projects, including creation of appropriate files for data analysis, and assistance with data analysis and report writing.